Gifted Gallagher
by Kchev11
Summary: To say that Amethyst Gallagher was gifted was a bit of an understatement. She was at a college level with Math, English, Science, and History; also fluent in both French and Spanish. She was the most innocent one of the family, most likely because she was only 6 years old. Follow Amie's crazy story as she tries to balance being "gifted," and being a Gallagher. (Give it a chance)
1. o n e

**OKAY OKAY BEFORE YOU ALL CUT MY THROATS WHILE I'M SLEEPING!**

 **Yes, this is yet another fanfiction that I am starting to write and I'm sorry if it doesn't please you since, yes, I did delete a few of my stories where the plots were not going anywhere. Yes, the stories that are still on my account are going to be updated, but I have no creativity or initiative to write the next part for them just yet. I AM SORRY BUT I CAN'T HELP IT!**

 **However, this fanficiton is going to be EXTREMELY different than any other fanfiction I've done because one, this is my first Shameless fanfic (I know, I know, I'm late to the party), but also, this will be including a lot of parallels from the somewhat recent movie "Gifted." I am not ashamed to say that yes, a lot of the inspiration for this story came from the movie and there will be very,** ** _very_** **, similar scenes, but hopefully, you guys will pay more attention to the differences than the similarities.**

 **I do not own Shameless, any of their amazing characters, or any possible references to the movie "Gifted." I do, however, own Amethyst and any changes I bring to the story line.**

 **This will also be taking place in season 1, starting on episode 6, and I will try to keep it as close to the original plot while still making it my own. I will try my best, but please be gentle. This is my first time writing in this universe, so...yea.**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

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The morning was early, the sun still hidden from view should anyone look out the windows, even though the fog will probably cover most of the shine when it does rise. The house was, for probably the first time in years, silent, which gave a young girl with a head of curls and a whole lot of imagination the tools she needed for what she was about to do.

Her dark blue, almost grey, eyes flickered back and forth, her bottom lip stuck between her teeth as she focused on the project at hand. Everyone in the neighborhood had an inkling that the Gallagher household wasn't exactly good with money, which in turn, led to some serious lack of internet or computer access.

However, that was about to change.

Yesterday, she had found the laptop in a garbage can, possibly thrown away after a robber couldn't crack the passcode. She wasn't completely sure on the story behind its placement, but she knew that it was in remarkable shape, and she could easily crack the code with the right tricks. But, the only problem was, she had to do it when nobody could possibly find her, and so the few hours just before the sun rose was perfect timing; at least for today since Frank wasn't in the house anymore. He was staying with Lip's girlfriend's mom, as strange as that sounded.

She tilted her head, her dark curls following with the lack of a hair tie or headband to keep them away from her face. Her eyes were wide with excitement, having woken up just for this; it could even be said that she was possibly the only child ever in existence that was excited to wake up early without the occasion of Christmas or a birthday.

But what could she say? She had a thing with numbers.

As well as words.

And languages.

To say that she was talented was an understatement, but the little girl didn't know that, nor did any of her family members. Not yet.

But, whenever she could, she would walk down to the local library and read for hours upon hours, sometimes with Lip or Ian, other times with Fiona. When she wasn't aloud to go because nobody could take her, she went anyways. She was almost 6 years old for crying out loud! She had to learn to walk a few blocks away on her own.

The books helped her immensely, especially when she needed to take time away from her family. Lord knows how much trouble they all got into, but she loved each and every one of them and couldn't even possibly imagine life without them, even Frank.

Soon though, she got bored of the children's books and transferred over to the more advanced stuff, especially the learning books. As crazy as it sounded, the little girl loved to learn and wished that her birthday had been in the right month for her to go to school, but it wasn't. She was a few weeks short, and it devastated her.

She soaked anything up like a sponge, and had successfully become fluent in both Spanish and French without her family really knowing. They just thought that she knew a few words, not the entire language, and she imagined it would be hilarious when they finally found out. She was now learning Italian, and Russian would come after, but she's getting ahead of herself.

She also read some math textbooks, so that she could be up to par, so that maybe she could skip a grade and be with her few friends that had made the age deadline. But she grew bored of those too, and kept moving forward with her progress.

It was a little clear to say that she had a lot of time on her hands and she wanted to use every second of it in that library.

But, back to the laptop.

She had grabbed a book on hacking computers from the library and read it quickly, easily following the instructions. It actually wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, which only made her smirk in excitement.

After about half an hour of typing random words and numbers that weren't so random to her, the screen went black for a moment, before rebooting and showing a start button.

Her eyes widened and a smile bloomed on her face, the feeling of achievement running through her veins. She jumped out her seat, dancing a little dance as she silently giggled.

Just then, she heard an alarm upstairs and knew for a fact that it was Fiona's, and considering that it was Monday, it was time to wake everyone up. The little girl looked outside in surprise, thinking back to the half hour and wondering if, perhaps, it had been a little longer than that. She frowned, estimating that she only got a few hours of sleep, but she shrugged, grabbing two pans from underneath the sink and running up the stairs.

The minute that she saw Fiona's door open just a little, she immediately began banging the two pans together, making a loud jarring sound that she laughed at. Fiona jumped and turned to stare at her, eyes wide as if she were an intruder.

"Amethyst Starla Gallagher!" Fiona shouted over the noise, but Amie only laughed, knowing that her oldest sister wasn't really that mad given the small smile on her face. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry sis!" the little girl replied, shrugging innocently as she went down the hall, banging the pans louder together. Amethyst was wearing a simple white tank top and black shorts that were a little too big for her, rolled up to the maximum to fit. "Wake up everyone!" she yelled loudly, entering the boys' room and noticing that the beds were groaning. She giggled innocently before running and launching herself onto what she knew was her brother, Ian's form.

She jumped on him, but he barely moved, used to this treatment from his little sister as it was a common occurrence. Amethyst had always been closest to Ian out of everyone, which was slightly surprising since they were so far in age, but it seemed to click, so nobody really questioned it.

"Wake up, Ian Bean!" she told him, jarring his figure by roughly shoving him back and forth. He groaned underneath the blanket and she giggled, getting off and taking the blanket with her. "Time for school everyone!"

"I think we got that Amie," Lip said, rubbing his eyes as he slipped off the top bunk, heading to the bathroom. She only smiled at him before turning to Ian, noticing that he had gotten up now.

"Are you always gonna wake me up like this?" he asked, like he did almost everyday, and she responded the way she always did, grinning.

"At least until I can go to school too," she said, shrugging before running out of the room, hearing him laugh behind her. She saw Debbie already up and waved, heading to Liam's room. He was surely up after all the racket.

She opened the door to see him standing up in his crib, looking through the bars as if he were a criminal. She giggled, bouncing her way to the crib.

"Hey Liam," she said sweetly, reaching to lower the crib, but she heard footsteps behind her just before hands appeared and lifted him out of the crib. She turned around, seeing Fiona there as she pouted. "I was going to do that."

"Still too young to hold the baby," was all Fiona replied blatantly and she huffed in exasperation.

"Well when can I be old enough?" she asked, following the older girl down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"When you start school," she said simply, and Amie frowned, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"It's not my fault Mom didn't go into birth until a few weeks too late," she commented sarcastically, earning a harmless glare from Fiona. The woman finally seemed to notice the laptop on the table and stopped dead in her tracks, causing the small girl to smirk. Ever since that guy, Steve, starting dating Fiona, the Gallaghers have gotten a few nice gifts, and she was probably wondering if this was another one of them.

"What is this?" she asked, furrowing her dark eyebrows together as she placed Liam in his high chair next to the table. As if on cue, Lip and Debbie climbed down the stairs, entering the kitchen. Fiona's gaze shot to them, and Amethyst went to the fridge, reaching just high enough to grab the milk. "Hey," Fiona caught their attention as she pointed to the device, her other hand on her hip. "What is this?"

The two looked to the laptop for less than a millisecond before answering. "No idea," Lip replied, shrugging as he grabbed a glass for himself and Amethyst, who smiled at him in thanks.

"Not me," Debbie said, her hands held up as if that would make her look more innocent. Amethyst poured herself a glass of milk, climbing into her usual chair at the table, taking a sip as she watched the drama, knowing that they would never think it was her.

Amethyst hardly ever showed her potential to others, likely because she didn't think it was that special, and she was too humble for her own good. Anything she did, she told people that she had endless amounts of help, but that was hardly the case. Amie also believed that there was no reason to reveal it as her, for they would surely not believe such a thing. She was only 6, after all.

"What about Steve?" Lip asked as he got the butter out to make pancakes. "He usually gets stuff for you, right?"

"Yea but we've never even mentioned a new laptop," Fiona said, confusion written over her face as Ian and Carl came downstairs and entered the hurricane that was the kitchen in the morning. "Hey, did either of you get this?" Fiona asked them, but they answered in the negative as well, leaving Fiona frustrated over not knowing. Amethyst hid her smile as she sipped the milk in her glass.

"Maybe Santa brought it for us," Amethyst suggested, and immediately saw all of them look at her as if she was too sweet and needed protection at all costs.

"It's not even December yet, Amie," Ian said, passing a plate of pancakes to her as she frowned.

"But it's September," she told him. "That's close enough isn't it?"

Ian laughed, and the others smiled, but seemed to ignore her comment, with none other than Steve joining them from upstairs. But, just as everyone was getting ready to sit down and start eating, talking back and forth over the strange appearance of a laptop, the lights cut out and all electricity left the house as if someone flipped a switch. Everyone, including Amethyst, groaned in annoyance before following a suddenly distressed Fiona out of the house and across the street to the electrician.

Fiona spoke a little with him as Amethyst stood next to Lip, looking up at the sky for entertainment. The clouds were out, along with the fog, and made Chicago look worse than it usually did, even though there were the few treasured, sunny days. She frowned before looking back to Fiona.

"Not the first time we got shut off," Debbie commented, bringing her coat close to her, and Amie realized just then that she wasn't wearing shoes or a coat. It seemed that Lip noticed it too because he rolled his eyes before picking her up, resting her on his hip. "Won't be the last."

"Is there any way that you can scrape the money together today?" the electrician, Hector, asked.

"We have it," Debbie continued, nodding to Fiona. "She just forgot to pay it."

Fiona shrugged. "I took an extra shift yesterday and just spaced it," she explained and he nodded in response.

"Call my cell phone when you pay it," he told her, handing her a slip of paper that most likely had his number on it. "I'll swing back at the end of the day."

"Thanks Hector," Fiona replied gratefully, taking the slip of paper while Amethyst rested her head on Lip's shoulder, her toes beginning to get cold from the autumn weather.

But luckily, everyone went back inside to start taking everything out of the fridge and eating more breakfast. Lip set Amethyst on her own feet before heading upstairs, getting changed for school. Just then, as Amethyst was finishing the rest of her milk, Carl arranging his froot loops, and Ian helping Fiona with the fridge, there was a knocking at the door. Debbie immediately went to go get it, and Amethyst put her cup in the sink before going to the computer, getting started with it despite Fiona's protests.

"We don't know where that came from," she argued, and Amethyst made a face.

"But it's here, isn't it?" she asked, and Fiona didn't seem to have a lot to say to that as she began to get distracted by everything else. Amethyst frowned at that picture; it was rare to ever see Fiona look so out of place.

The little girl brushed it off though and turned back to the computer. She had hid the book she borrowed from the library upstairs when she woke everyone up, but she was almost certain that she knew what to do from there as she looked through the apps already installed. There weren't a lot of fun games, but there was the internet browser. All they needed now was wifi.

"Hey, bat stays here!" is all Amethyst heard behind her as Fiona let all of the others outside. The little girl couldn't help the angered scowl that passed her lips.

"Why can't I just go to a tutor or something?" she whined to Fiona, who had now pushed Steve outside with all the kids as well, turning to her quickly. She still looked a little wild-eyed, as if she hadn't expected the usual routine.

Fiona sighed, rolling her eyes as she unfolded a piece of paper in her hands. "We've been over this Amie," she said, sounding tired. "Tutors cost money that we don't have when all you have to do is wait another year."

Amethyst huffed in frustration, still upset about it all every time she saw everyone else leave for school. She could feel the jealousy and envy in her veins just at the sight of the textbooks Lip brought home. She would be lying though if she said she never looked through the textbooks every single time, learning more and more.

She turned back to the computer, Fiona sitting down behind her as the older woman read the note that Carl had given her. It was silent besides their breathing, at least until the door opened not 20 seconds after it had just closed.

Amie turned around, wondering what someone forgot as Fiona read her mind. "Who forgot what?" she asked, the door creaking as it closed, but Amie's eyes widened at the strange men who entered the house. They definitely weren't any of her siblings.

Fiona saw them as well and stood up, looking over her shoulder at the little girl standing there, wide eyed.

"Frank forgot to pay," the man answered, but Fiona ignored him, taking the baseball bat and gesturing to the stairs.

"Upstairs, now," was all Fiona said, and honestly, Amie didn't need to hear anything else. However, she didn't hesitate to listen in on the conversation.

 _"Get the fuck out of my house,"_ Fiona said, walking to them and brandishing the bat threateningly.

 _"You should deadbolt your door,"_ was all the man replied with, casually gesturing to the door. _"This is a dangerous neighborhood."_

 _"Frank doesn't live here anymore,_ " Fiona told them, shaking her head. The guy, who seemed to be the leader of the dynamic duo, remained silent for a moment before speaking again, his voice lower.

 _"Yea, well, just 'cause he don't live here anymore doesn't mean you don't know where he lives now,_ " he stated in that Italian accent of his, sounding a lot like a movie that Amie watched with Ian a while back.

The other goon, who hadn't said anything the whole time, suddenly spoke up. _"Put the bat down,_ " he told Fiona calmly. _"Pick up the phone, and tell him to get us the six grand he owes."_

Amie's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. What on earth were they talking about? What kind of mess did Dad get himself into now.

 _"What?"_ Fiona asked, just as confused as the little girl.

 _"Or bring back the car,"_ the second goon spoke still, shrugging his shoulders with a strange smirk on his face.

 _"Or we'll come back and use the bat on you,"_ the leader finished, and Amie's eyes widened, watching cautiously as the two left.

Slowly, so as to not freak Fiona out, Amethyst descended the stairs, seeing her older sister breathe out in what looked like relief as she threw the bat on the couch. Amie bit her lip as she watched Fiona go into the kitchen and grab Liam.

"Go get changed," Fiona told the little girl without even looking over at her. "You're going over to V's while I deal with this."

Amie nodded obediently and ran up the stairs, quickly grabbing a long sleeved, grey shirt that she slipped on over her head. The shirt was slightly too big, but it would do. Her dark jeans came next, and then some beaten up, black converse that got passed down from Fiona, to Debbie, to her. She ran back downstairs, grabbing the laptop, despite Fiona's scowl, before joining the older girl on the short walk to next door.

Veronica was perhaps one of the coolest adults Amie knew, excluding Fiona of course. She was awesome, always doing Amie's hair in the coolest of styles and offering to walk the little girl to the library whenever she could. Kev was cool too, but he got mad at them often for using all of his stuff so much, so she didn't really know what to do about that.

"Hey V," Fiona greeted when the black lady opened the door in nothing but her robe, not ashamed at all to do so. "I'm sorry to ask, but could you watch Liam and Amie today while I go sort some things out with Frank?"

"What on earth did he get himself into now?" Veronica asked, shaking her head as she pursed her lips, shifting her weight onto one hip.

Fiona shook her head. "I don't even know," she replied, sighing, making Amie look up in concern.

"But of course, girl," Veronica replied loudly, smiling as she opened the door for the little girl, holding out her arms for the baby. "It's no trouble. How long ya gonna be?"

"Thanks," Fiona replied, smiling as well. "And not long, probably like an hour or two, max."

Veronica nodded as Amie entered the room, sitting on the couch and opening the laptop to continue her curious searching of the device. "Alright," was all the black woman replied before closing the door, walking over to see Amie on the laptop.

"What's that?" she asked curiously, and Amie ceased from her typing to look up at her.

"A laptop," she said, smirking slightly as Veronica rolled her eyes.

"No, you little smart ass," she said playfully, making Amie giggle a little. "I mean where'd you get it."

"Nobody knows," Amie replied easily, shrugging her shoulders. "But I'm gonna play on it."

Veronica nodded and then walked away, probably going to her bedroom to do her usual "side job," if you called stripping in front of a camera a side job. Amie didn't care, but hopefully, Liam wasn't able to be seen in the video or else things would get awkward very quickly.

Amie looked over the computer again, clicking on the app with the big "W" on it. She waited for it to load, and when it finally did, she found a simple, blank document there, a flickering line waiting for words to appear. She tilted her head, confused, and pushed a random button, watching in fascination as the letter appeared on the screen. Immediately, it clicked to her that the app was probably for writing things down, and then she grew even more curious.

Using Veronica's code for wifi, Amie clicked on the internet browser and searched up the math subject she was currently learning. Instantly, thousands of websites came up referring to the word and Amie's eyes sparkled in wonder. She grabbed a piece of paper, a pencil, and started solving all of the problems she could.

The day seemed to fly by, with Amie switching from Math to English, and then to Science and History. She skipped over about a quarter of it though, having already known the information sitting there and getting to the good stuff. It was like she had just won a million dollars, and when Veronica offered food, she declined, too hooked on the computer to do anything else.

But, soon, the front door opened and Amie looked up from her place at the couch, looking at who walked through the door. The girl had taken off her shoes a while ago, and was sitting criss-crossed on the couch with about a dozen pieces of paper, all filled with her small handwriting of problems she solved.

When she saw that it was Ian walking through the door, Amie smiled, stacking the pieces of paper on top of each other and closing the laptop over them, getting up and running to her brother. "Ian!" she yelled just before she jumped on him, hearing him laugh as Veronica looked over.

"Hey honey," she greeted.

"Hi Veronica, sorry to barge in, but we gotta go," he said, directing the last part of the sentence to Amie, who tilted her head in confusion.

"Go where?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Fiona thought that it'd be a good idea to bring you to Parent-Teacher Night at the school so you could kinda see where you'll be next year," the redhead told her and a smile appeared instantly, brightening in excitement. "And since I was just at work, I figured I could stop by and pick you up."

"Really?" she asked, hope in her voice as she looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Yes," he said laughing, pushing her away. "Now get your shoes on and let's go. I got a jacket for you from the house."

She nodded and quickly slipped on the shoes, telling Veronica that she'd get the laptop tonight after they got back from the school. The woman said it was fine, feeding Liam his dinner as she said so. Once the shoes were tied once again, Amie hopped up and turned to Ian, who threw her purple jacket to her, opening the front door.

"Come on," he said, and she followed him out, slipping the jacket on.

"Bye Veronica!" Amie called over her shoulder.

"Bye, sweetie!" the woman yelled back, and Amie smiled, running to catch up with Ian.

"Slow down," she said after about five minutes of walking, her words coming out in short gasps. "I have little legs."

He looked down at her for a second before laughing, slowing down as they walked through the dark streets.

"So," he started, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his jacket. "Whacha been up to all day?"

The little girl shrugged, copying his movements as she put her hands in her pockets as well. "Nothing much," she said, though the complete opposite was the truth. "Just messing around with that laptop."

"Oh yea," he said, shaking his head. "How did that even get there?"

"Not sure, but it comes in handy," she told him, the white lie coming easily. "It works pretty fast, and doesn't even need to be held in an awkward position to do so."

Ian laughed, and she joined in, giggling as a gust of wind ruffled her curly hair.

"Before we get to the school though, you should probably know," Ian said, his voice becoming serious as she looked up at him, confused. "There's a possibility of Carl going to a foster home after tonight."

"What?" she asked, stopping abruptly as she looked at him wide eyed. "Why?"

He stopped as well, turning and bending down so that they were at eye level. He pursed his lips, as if trying to find the right words, and that only made her more anxious. "You know how Carl is," he said, shaking his head. "The school wants to throw him out over behavioral issues. And since Frank didn't bother to show for the meeting, it'll probably happen."

Amie looked down at the floor, the thought of Carl leaving making butterflies appear in her stomach. It felt like that time when all of them had been split up, going to strange foster homes without any other sibling. It felt like that, only worse since it would only be Carl. It would feel as if something was missing.

"Hey," a hand lifted her chin up and she met the blue-almost grey like her own-eyes of Ian. "I told you so that you would know what was going on, not so that you can feel terrible over something that you have no control over, okay?"

She took a deep breath before nodding, and he gave her a small smile, standing up and taking her hand as they begun to walk again. "Now, let's get moving before we miss it completely," he commented and she walked faster along with him.

It only took about another 5 minutes of fast walking until they reached the school, filled to the brim with students and parents alike, and Amie couldn't help but smile widely. The building was everything she thought it would be, and she noticed Ian smiling at her out of the corner of her eye. She turned to him, grabbing his hand and dragging him up the steps. "Come on!" she told him, hearing him laugh at her actions as thoughts of Carl were pushed to the back of her mind.

She entered the busy building, looking around curiously, her eyes bright as she tried to take in whatever she could. She saw the tiled floors, and though they were dirty, they weren't as bad as she thought they would be. The walls were still standing, which was surprising, and the lights would last for probably another 10 years without flickering out of business.

She felt a tugging on her arm and looked behind her to see Ian gesturing to a wing of the school, a small smile on his face. "This way is where you'll be next year," he told her, and another excited smile lit up her face as she quickly followed after him, looking at the tall adults as she passed them by. Everyone looked at her sweetly, and she knew that they probably thought she was one of the students. If only.

They entered a hall filled with decorations obviously made by children. The construction paper on one wall had been cut out into leaves, signifying the fall season, and on another side, there were about a dozen pictures of rainbows. The colors were bright to her, and she couldn't help but pull Ian into one of the classes, wanting to see more than just the surface.

The teacher had finished speaking to all of the parents as a whole, now speaking individually as people came up to greet them. Amie found herself in the middle of about 30 small desks, all set up in a specific order, with 10 little groups of three. Each desk had a small name tag on it, along with a plastic ruler and a personal box for their pencils and such. Along the walls was the alphabet, each letter with a small picture, and a sequence of numbers. However, Amie tilted her head in confusion when she realized that the numbers only went to 100; why not go farther?

Ian stood next to her, looking around as well at the classroom. She could see other children, but when she didn't recognize them, she brushed them off, looking more at everything. But it seemed that the more she looked, the more disappointed she got.

Where was all of the advanced vocabulary like devastated, or unencumbered, or even equanimity? Where were the math symbols that she had learned what felt like years ago? Where were the foreign languages? The history of the French Revolution? The science of dissecting a rat? All of the things she knew like the back of her hand, yet they were all missing from the very first class she was going to attend at her very first school.

"What's wrong?" Ian asked, looking concerned as her gaze met his, and it was then that she realized she had a look of confusion, and a feeling of lost, obvious on her face. But, instead of answering his question, she saw that the teacher had no more parents to talk to at the moment and quickly made her way over to her. The woman was tall, with dark skin like Veronica, yet a curly afro of hair on top of her head. She wore a respectable pantsuit, with black high heels, and she looked to be about in her mid-thirties by the slight beginnings of wrinkles near her eyes.

"Amie? Amethyst, what are you doing?" Ian asked, walking behind her, but she ignored him, stopping in front of the teacher with a serious expression on her face.

"Excuse me?" she asked the lady, who looked down at Amie with a little bit of surprise. She probably didn't expect a little girl to have such an adult expression on her face. "Can I ask you something about the class?"

"Sure honey," the teacher replied, and by the childish looking name tag on her pantsuit, Amie could see that her name was Mrs. Jenkins. The woman sat down on a nearby chair so that she could be lower and the child wouldn't have to crane her head to ask the question. "What is it?"

"Well, I was just wondering about what you do for math?" she began, seeing as that was the first thing she had been surprised about. Ian shifted uncomfortably beside her, smiling apologetically at the woman before he looked to his sister, wondering what the hell she was doing.

"Well, we start out with very easy things, such as simple addition and subtraction," the teacher responded.

"What about multiplication?" Amie asked, tilting her head. The teacher furrowed her eyebrows, confused by the line of questioning.

"Multiplication doesn't come in until at least the 3rd grade, why?" she asked, and the little girl looked even more confused.

"Division?" she asked.

"Amethyst," Ian scolded, but the teacher answered the question anyway.

"Not until a little after multiplication is introduced. Why do you wanna know such grown up things, sweetie?" she asked, and Amie wanted to scoff at the question.

To say that multiplication and division were "grown up," as the teacher so eloquently put it, was absurd to her. She was currently working on trigonometry, and calculus, not simply division and subtraction. Did this mean that being in school meant she'd have to learn things slower than she usually did?

"I'm sorry, she's just very excited about starting next year," Ian said, given the fact that Amethyst hadn't yet answered Mrs. Jenkins's last question. "We'll just be going," he said with a fake smile, leading a confused and almost distraught Amie out of the room and into the hall. He bent down a little as they walked toward the main part of the building, looking at her inquisitively. "Hey, what was all of that about?"

She didn't answer, and Ian grew worried over why, but before he could ask any questions, they heard their names.

"Ian! Amethyst!" Fiona called from down the hall, waving for them to come over. There was Steve, Lip, Carl, and Debbie all with her, and with the addition of Ian and herself, that meant that almost everyone was there. Everyone besides Liam and Frank of course.

"Hey, how did you like the tour?" Fiona asked Amie, her eyes wide and her voice higher pitched to make her seem excited. Amethyst pursed her lips and only shrugged in response, moving over to Ian and grabbing his hand. Fiona looked to the redhead in question, but he only shook his head, just as confused as she was.

"Daddy!" Debbie suddenly yelled. Ian and Amethyst turned around to see Frank walking down the hall, wearing a nice suit, and with, of all people, Karen. The blonde, as Amie remembered, was Lip's sorta girlfriend.

Fiona looked as if she had been stabbed in the back, her voice changing from the high pitched one to a more somber one in a second when she spoke again. "Debbie, we gotta go," she told the younger girl. Amie frowned but looked up to Ian, gesturing with her hands for him to pick her up. He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling as he brought her into his arms, resting her on his hip.

"I wanna say hi to Daddy," Debbie argued. "Daddy! Hi!"

Frank finally looked up at this and Debbie started waving excitedly, the only one that seemed to be happy to see him there with a completely different child than one of his own. "Hello Pumpkin," Frank called, and Amie frowned, not happy with the way that he showed up for Karen, but not for Carl. At least, that was what she had heard from Ian on the way to the school.

"Karen, what's going on?" Lip asked, and he had a look of apprehension on his face as well, wondering if Karen knew the stakes of tonight.

"Well you said you never come to these things, so I thought you weren't gonna come, and..." she faded away for a second before continuing. "So I asked Frank to stand in for my worthless father."

"Did they expel Carl," Frank asked, and Amie's frown deepened, knowing that probably everyone else had the same expression as herself.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, and Amie looked over to see Carl standing there, looking sad that his own father chose another person's kid over him. Fiona nodded after a moment, placing her hand on Carl's head for comfort.

Frank smiled, making a "ta-da" gesture with his hands. "What did I tell you?" he asked lightly. "Drama and threats, all for naught."

He started chuckling and Amie looked over at Fiona to see unshed tears in her eyes, looking like if she spent another minute there, she would either burst into tears or attempt to kill Frank. After another long, awkward pause of everyone looking at Frank, who was smiling like an idiot, Fiona spoke quietly, leading Carl to the door. "Come on guys. Let's go," she said, not giving Frank another look as the Gallagher siblings shuffled out of the school.

"Bye, Daddy," Debbie said, but Amie stayed quiet, her head leaning on Ian's shoulder as they exited into the dark night.

"Yeah, see ya," she heard Frank behind them one last time before he was engulfed by all of the students and parents.

And then, everyone went home silently, nobody speaking of anything in the car. Amie almost fell asleep on Ian on the way, but woke up just when they got there, letting Ian carry her inside. But, when he said he was gonna take her upstairs, she declined, saying that she needed to get the laptop from Veronica's.

"I'll go get it," Ian offered, sitting her on the couch instead and looking to Fiona for permission. She nodded in response, and he left to get the device, along with Liam, of course.

She sat there, listening to Fiona speak to Carl about how he needed to behave better at school or else he might be sent away like what almost happened tonight. Lip offered to take him to play hockey, and then told him that Ian would gladly bring him along to karate classes. Carl seemed to lighten up a little bit at that, and nodded his head.

Then, Ian came back home, carrying the laptop in one hand and Liam in the other. Fiona grabbed Liam, putting him in the baby pen downstairs, but instead of simply putting the laptop down, Ian took out the multiple sheets of paper that was tucked between the keys and the screen. Amie was looking at the TV, which Carl and Debbie had just switched on, when she heard her name.

"Amie?" Ian asked, and she turned around to see him holding the multiple sheets of paper, sounding incredibly confused. Everyone turned around as well, seeing their freckled-face brother look up to meet the grey eyes of their youngest sister. "What is all of this?"

She shrugged. "Some math that I was working on," she answered truthfully, wondering why he was so confused by it. It's not like she kept her studying a secret, but she supposed that now they were interested in what _exactly_ she'd been studying.

"What's wrong?" Fiona asked, entering the room again as she noticed Ian standing there with all of the papers.

But Ian didn't answer her, instead looking directly at Amethyst, his eyes wide in surprise. "Amie, this is college math," he told her, and she just shrugged.

"What?" Lip asked, standing up and taking the papers out of Ian's hands with Fiona and Steve standing behind him, looking over his shoulders. Debbie and Carl looked at one another before looking back at the adults, wondering what exactly the big deal was. Amie couldn't help but be thinking the same exact thing.

After looking the papers over with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Lip looked up at the curly haired girl who had just slipped off her coat and shoes, sitting in the chair comfortably. His blue eyes met hers for a moment, Fiona and Steve looking at her in shock as well, before Lip moved.

"How..." he trailed off, moving to kneel on the floor in front of her so that she was looking down at him. "How do you know all of this?"

She shrugged again. "Read about it somewhere in the library," she told him, and he looked even more confused. He was silent for a moment with Amie looking around at everyone else. "Why are you all giving me weird looks?" she asked, but nobody replied; nobody really seemed to know how to.

Then, Lip spoke again. "What's 300 plus 245?" he asked her, and she looked down at him in confusion. Nonetheless, she answered anyway, brushing a stray curl behind her ear.

"545," she answered instantly, surprising practically everyone, including Lip.

He asked her another. "34 multiplied by 5?"

She blinked, but answered still too quickly for her age, "170."

Everyone besides Lip was now looking at her with interest, surprise written across a few, but the next question was the hardest.

"3,609,876 multiplied by 67,987?" he asked, and Fiona jumped in.

"Come on Lip," she said, tilting her head as she met his gaze. "She can't possibly-"

"245,424,639,612," Amethyst answered, cutting Fiona off, who just looked as if she was seeing the little girl for the first time. Lip furrowed his eyebrows, grabbing a calculator and immediately typing in the problem, pausing once he got the answer.

Amethyst tilted her head, blinking at them. "The square root of that would be 495,403.51, if you decided to round it to the nearest tenth. And then if you multiplied by Cosine, it'd be 0.6885, ect," she explained. She paused though, furrowing her eyebrows. "Though if you added an exponent to the Cosine, the problem would most likely be unsolvable given the circumstances of such an elongated number."

She looked back down at Lip to see his mouth slightly agape and his blue eyes wide as he looked up at her. She tilted her head in confusion, looking up at everyone else to see almost identical expressions across their own features.

Amethyst suddenly felt very insecure, looking around at everyone. "What?" she asked, her usually small voice sounding even smaller.

"Amie, how..." Fiona started to ask, but trailed off, confusion still sitting across her features.

"You said you read how to do all of this in a book?" Ian asked, and Amie nodded.

"Yep," she said simply, nodding her head.

"How do you remember all of it?" Debbie asked, looking at her sister as if she were a crossword puzzle.

The curly headed girl shrugged her shoulders once more. "I just do," she said.

"What else did you read about?" Lip asked her, and she smiled down at him.

"Well, I learned how to speak fluently in Spanish and French," she told them. "Also a lot about science and history of all kinds-"

"Wait," Carl interrupted, looking at Amie with the same expression as Debbie. "Say something in French."

"Um," Amie paused before speaking again. _"Que veux tu que je dise?"_

"Woah!" Debbie exclaimed, along with a gasp of surprise from Fiona, who sat down on the couch, her eyes wide.

"What did you say?" Ian asked her, smiling as well.

"I asked what you wanted me to say," Amethyst replied simply. "Why is this such a big deal?"

"Because you're only six years old," Lip told her, standing up as he looked through all of the papers again. "You shouldn't be able to remember any of this so easily."

Amie remained quiet at that, pursing her lips. Steve looked over to Fiona, placing an arm over her shoulders as he spoke the next words loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Looks like you've got a gifted Gallagher on your hands."

He didn't even know the half of it.

•

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•

 **Okay guys, there's the first chapter!**

 **I get that this was kinda long, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but hopefully you all liked it! And a hint for why Amethyst can remember everything so quickly and easily: She kinda has a photographic memory. You'll find out more about that in the next chapter or so.**

 **Also, the way to pronounce Amie is exactly like "Amy," only spelled differently.**

 **Please leave a review about what you thought about it and if you want me to continue the story! It would mean a lot!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. t w o

**Okay guys, you few readers seemed to like it so here is the next chapter!**

 **I hope you all enjoy!**

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After the small interrogation last night of just how much Amethyst knew, everyone acted a little differently around her, as if she wasn't just their little sister, but something more. As if they finally knew that she was _capable_ of a lot more. Though, it was mainly Lip and Fiona who had changed their behavior more than the others.

Lip seemed to steal glances at the little girl, speaking quietly with Fiona over a private matter; the oldest Gallagher sibling looked stressed when he did so. Amethyst, however, didn't notice them, carrying out her usual routine as if nothing had changed when the opposite was the truth.

Everything had changed.

She woke up when everyone else did, having been tired yesterday when she stayed up so late with Lip answering his questions. When she woke up, she changed into some grey, printed leggings and a black tank top, slipping on her purple jacket when she got downstairs; the house was colder than it usually got, but not as cold as it got when they switched the power off.

Her hair bounced in their natural curls, not bothering to brush them since that would only make it worse, as she skipped into the kitchen, moving around Veronica, who was working on Debbie's hair. Fiona and Steve were in the middle of the kitchen as Fiona put a sweater on over her head. Amie skipped over to get some food from the kitchen, Veronica smiling at her as she passed.

"Hey, smarty-pants," Veronica said, and Amethyst furrowed her eyebrows, stopping mid-way as she grabbed the cereal box from the counter. Fiona looked to Veronica with wide eyes, her face set into a firm expression.

"V," Fiona sounded as if she was reprimanding the woman. Veronica looked confused as she continued doing Debbie's hair, wondering what she did wrong. Amie ignored them, climbing onto the counter to grab a bowl from one of the cabinets.

It was awkwardly quiet for a moment longer as Fiona helped Amie down once she got her bowl. "I was thinking," Fiona began, bending down to the little girl's height as she brushed a strand behind her ear. "Maybe Lip could start tutoring you in some schoolwork like you've wanted?"

She sounded hesitant, as if Fiona wasn't sure it was a good idea, but Amie took to the idea immediately, her eyes widening as she smiled. "Really?" she asked, and after Fiona nodded, Amie jumped up and down, nodding as well. "Yes, yes, _yes_!"

Everyone started laughing at her as Fiona stood up, patting Amie's head. "Well, Lip gets out of school early today so you two can start when he gets home, alright?" she said.

Amie nodded, still smiling. She couldn't believe that Fiona was _finally_ allowing her to learn new things with an actual tutor, and considering that it was her brother that was tutoring her, it could be a lot more comfortable than if it was a stranger. The little girl had to admit though, that at some points, having her brother as her tutor could get a little annoying.

Amethyst poured her cereal and milk into the bowl, sitting at the table to eat it leisurely, listening as Steve tried to convince Fiona of taking a trip to some kind of hotel. Veronica was complaining to the oldest Gallagher about the toilet, and Amie's face scrunched up in disgust. That was definitely not something that she wanted to hear while she was eating.

But, soon enough, long after Veronica had finished Debbie's hair and Amie had eaten both breakfast and lunch, the backdoor opened quickly. Amethyst was sitting on the couch, typing away on the computer as she learned more and more when Lip and Ian came barging in with handfuls of large meat, quickly followed by Veronica and Kevin. Amie's eyes widened as she stood up from the couch in the living room, moving to see Veronica quickly open the door to the fridge as the boys dumped the meat onto any vertical surface they could find.

"How the hell are we gonna fit all of that into there?" she asked, gesturing to the tiny refrigerator.

"What _is_ all of that?" Amie asked wide eyed, looking curiously at the large bodies of meat. She's only very seen meat in small portions, and never connected to actual bone before.

"Meat, what's it look like?" Ian said, huffing once as he dropped another handful of the substance onto the kitchen table. Amethyst rolled her eyes, giving Ian a look in which he returned with a smirk.

"It's still connected to the body is all," Lip offered, and Amie blinked, staring at the meat even more. But, the more she looked at it, the more grossed out she was becoming. It was no surprise that out of the younger siblings, Carl was the one that would enjoy looking at dead animals.

"I think I'm going to be a vegetarian," Amie commented, her face scrunched up as she leaned against the new washing machine, seeing everyone laugh at her statement. She frowned at that; she was kind of being serious.

Veronica gave the young girl a look. "Have fun starving then," she said, and Amethyst rolled her eyes before returning to the couch, knowing that she was too little to help carry the large loads inside.

She flopped onto the couch, bringing the laptop closer to her on her lap as she grabbed her notebook, scribbling down a few more answers to the questions on the screen. She heard footsteps closer than the chatter that was in the kitchen and turned her head to see Lip approaching her, leaning over the back of the couch to look at the laptop.

"Hey," he greeted, closing the laptop, to which Amie exclaimed a protest to. He only smiled gently at her, something that made a confused expression come across the little girl's face. "I was thinking that you might wanna help with the meat outside?" he asked.

She scrunched her face up in distaste. "Pass," she replied, reaching out to open the laptop again when Lip took it off of her lap. "Hey-"

"I'll let you hold the chainsaw," Lip tried to bribe her as she got to her knees on the couch, facing him now. She frowned at him.

"No thanks. Ask Carl," she said, reaching for the device while Lip took a step back, creating a bigger distance between them. She huffed in exasperation, looking at Lip with wide eyes. "What the heck, dude?"

He smiled at her choice of words but shrugged. "I just figured you'd wanna take a break from schoolwork," he told her, and she furrowed her eyebrows.

"To hack into meat instead?" she asked, giggling slightly as she tilted her head. "No offense, big brother, but I'm not a boy. Even if I am a Gallagher, I'm not a fan of violence."

His eyebrows shot up at this, and she wondered why. He looked amused by her statement, but kept a hold of the laptop for a moment longer than necessary. As he was handing it back, he pulled it away from her grasp, making her look to him in annoyance. "A movie, tonight, with everyone in the family, minus Fiona. Say yes, and I'll give this back to you."

She tilted her head, confusion written across her features. "Why do you care so much all of a sudden?" she asked, and a slightly hurt expression crossed over her brother's face. She amended her statement. "I mean, I've been doing schoolwork in my free time for a while and you haven't said anything until now. Why?"

He had an unreadable expression on his face as he walked around the couch, setting the laptop on the coffee table before sitting down next to her. She turned around and flopped onto her butt on the couch, looking up at her brother curiously. He gave her a small smile. "Well...I just think that you need to spend more time being a kid and less time being...well, gifted."

" _Gifted?_ " Amethyst giggled, shaking her head. "I'm not gifted."

He tilted his head at her, his eyebrows furrowed together. "Why do you think that?" he asked, his interest in her answer clear in his voice.

She shrugged. "Because there's nothing special about it," she said matter-of-factly, reminding her brother that she completely believed that what she could do was normal in every little kid. "I just like learning, that's all."

Lip smiled at her, bringing her in to a side hug, something that she was slightly confused about. She hugged him back tightly any way, listening to his voice as it vibrated through his chest. "Just...try to let loose once in a while," he told her, pulling away. "Be a kid while you still can, alright?"

She was still confused by the whole line of questioning, but she nodded her head. "Course, Lip," she told him, and he ruffled her curly hair once more before getting up and going outside, cutting up more of the meat.

She frowned after him, but after a moment, she shrugged it off, not thinking much of the conversation. She opened the laptop once more, grabbed onto her notebook, and started writing some more words down.

Though, the more that she tried to get back into the swing of things, the more her mind continued to wander back to the conversation. Why was Lip so concerned that she wouldn't be a kid anymore just because he found out about all of the stuff she knew? Why would learning new things take away from her being only 6 years old? Why did Lip think that she was gifted? Wasn't what she could do normal?

Amethyst bit her lip, looking up from the laptop to see the empty kitchen, the backdoor slightly open so that she could hear everyone working outside. They were laughing, sounding like they were having fun as the noise of a chainsaw echoed throughout the alley. She could hear Ian and Lip yelling something at Carl, as well as Debbie laughing loudly. Amethyst sighed, tilting her head at the door, wondering if she wanted to join them.

But then she looked back at the laptop, and decided to continue with her studying. She couldn't help outside anyway even if she wanted to. Plus, there was the movie night thing later today that she would look forward to, so she didn't need a break now.

She forgot about any worries the minute that she switched from the Chinese history to the beginnings of learning Italian. She was immersed on the site, sounding out words silently with her grey eyes stuck to the screen. She continued like that for about an hour before she saw Fiona running around the house, looking a little stressed. Amethyst tilted her head curiously, setting the laptop aside as she looked up at her big sister.

"You looked stressed," she said simply, seeing Fiona whirl herself back to Amie, looking exactly how the little girl described.

Fiona smiled slightly, nodding her head as she came to sit next to Amethyst on the couch. "Yea," she agreed, nodding her head. "I just got back from scolding Frank, so I guess you could say I'm kinda stressed."

Amethyst furrowed her eyebrows. "What'd Dad do now?" she asked, and her sister looked over at her with an annoyed expression.

"What didn't he do?" she asked, shaking her head. "He used all of our names, minus yours and Liam's, to use on credit cards. He basically put all of us in debt."

Amie frowned, looking confused. "What's debt?" she asked, surprised that she had no idea what debt was. Fiona looked over at her again, seeming to realize that Amethyst was still only six years old, even if she was smarter than her years.

"Don't you worry about it," Fiona replied, patting Amethyst's head softly as she got up.

"Maybe you should go with Steve to that hotel thingy," the little girl suddenly said, causing Fiona to turn around in surprise. "I mean, you should deserve a night off, right?" She looked at Fiona innocently, a look of worry settled over the younger girl's features. She hated when Fiona worked too hard, considering it wasn't even technically her job to do so. That belonged to their parents, but considering who their parents were, Fiona was forced to be the adult, and that wasn't fair.

Fiona was silent for a long moment, possibly surprised that Amie could notice such a thing in her older sister. "You really think so?" Fiona asked, still a little uncertain about leaving her siblings alone.

Amethyst smiled widely, nodding her head excitedly. "Yea!" she responded, getting up off the couch to grab Fiona's hand. "We'll be alright here."

Fiona looked down at her little sister, smiling fondly as she picked the little girl up into her arms. "How'd you get so smart?" she asked a little playfully, even if she really meant the question. Amethyst giggled, only shrugging her shoulders in response. Fiona shrugged her shoulders as well, walking into the kitchen and placing Amethyst back on the ground as she went outside, telling everyone that she'd be going with Steve to the hotel. Amie smiled in success.

She watched as everyone outside started coming inside, bringing in the cut pieces of meat and stuffing most of it into the fridge. Outside was already starting to get dark, the winter season obvious with such short days and freezing weather. Lip instructed Amethyst to start setting the table for dinner and she nodded her head, grabbing the silverware and walking over to the table, hearing the front door close as Fiona left for her night of peace.

Lip cooked a lot of the meat, creating a large dinner as the smell of chicken wafted through the house. Amethyst had to admit that though the meat was kinda gross when it was raw, it smelled heavenly once cooked. Her mouth was practically watering as she set the plates on the dinner mats, grabbing napkins for everyone as well, knowing that Carl would most likely go nuts with the barbecue sauce.

Soon enough, everyone was sitting around the table, minus Fiona as well as Ian, who had left to find Mickey Milkovich for some reason concerning the Kash N Grab. Amie wasn't really paying attention as she started eating her chicken, cut into little pieces thanks to Lip. She moaned at the taste, seeing Lip and Carl smile at her as Debbie went to grab the ketchup, sitting down and licking her lips at her plate.

But, just as the dinner was starting, Frank walked in, bundled up in a beanie and a jacket. Lip glanced at their father absentmindedly before returning to his dinner. "What happened to you?" he asked simply, and Amie tilted her head, staring at her father to see how he'd respond. He always seemed to tell crazy stories.

"Uh, a huge guy jumped me," Frank answered, and Amethyst's eyebrows shot up, surprised already. "Two-eighty, Two-ninety, steroids...Who knows?"

Lip nodded along, not looking as if he believed their father, and Amie couldn't really blame him. Most of the times, Frank was lying, or at least over exaggerating the situation to gain sympathy from somebody. "Good for him," Lip said, wiping his mouth and handing a napkin to Amethyst, winking at her. She widened her eyes but took the napkin, rubbing away the mess on her face.

"I need your help," Frank said as Amethyst licked her lips, looking down at the napkin.

"I got maybe two bucks," Debbie answered immediately, looking over at Frank with a frown.

"No, no, no. Show of hands," Frank amended, and Amethyst looked up as he glanced around the the table. "How many of you, at one point or another, wanted to see me dead?"

Amethyst blinked at the question, but Lip, nor Carl, hesitated to raise their hands, Debbie following slowly afterwards. That left the young girl as everyone turned to look at her. She sighed, shrugging her shoulders before raising her hand as well. She couldn't exactly deny it, given the fact that all of the Gallaghers seemed to be born with a temper that sometimes got out of hand.

Frank pointed to Amethyst like he had just won the lottery. "Yeah," he cheered, coming closer to the table. "Here's your chance."

Amethyst listened wide eyed as her father explained to them what he would need to fake his death, which in itself was kind of surprising to Amethyst. Among the many crazy things she imagined that her family would get up to, pretending that her father was dead was not one of them at all. But besides her initial shock and uncertainty, Amethyst found herself accompanying Debbie to the laundry mat the next morning, wrapping a few pounds of meat to try and bribe the lady who worked there.

"Hi, Mrs. Bergdoll," Debbie greeted extra nicely, smiling widely as the older woman turned to them. "Got some bones for your pit bulls."

The woman didn't even look away from the covered piece of clothing she was holding when she replied. "I told you, no more comforters until Carl kicks the head lice," she said, placing the shirt back on a rack and moving to her desk.

Debbie moved forward, Amethyst standing behind wearing a grey beanie that Lip demanded she wear. The older of the two girls placed the bones on a nearby table, still looking at the old lady. "We need a man's suit," she spoke instead of responding to the earlier statement. "Something dark."

The woman looked to them before pointing to something. "The box," she said, and they turned to see a cardboard box with a plethora of forgotten clothes. "They were never picked up."

Debbie looked to the box and grabbed Amethyst's hand, leading the younger girl to the clothes. The two of them looked through it but couldn't find anything to remotely match what they needed for Frank's fake death. Amethyst huffed in frustration, leaning back on her haunches as she looked to her older sister with confusion.

"Now what?" Amethyst asked, tilting her head. Debbie bit her lip in concentration, looking around the store before something seemed to catch her eye from behind Amethyst. The little girl turned as Debbie stood up, swiping a nice suit from a nearby rack. Amethyst smiled and followed Debbie to Mrs. Bergdoll again.

"Any chance we can borrow this?" Debbie asked, gesturing to the suit. When the older lady turned to them and began to frown, Debbie spoke again. "We'll return it tomorrow, promise."

"Who for?" she asked seriously.

"Our dad," Amie answered this time, smiling innocently up at the woman.

"Frank?" she asked, turning back to her papers. "I'd have to burn it."

Debbie hesitated for just a moment before speaking again. "Four-pound roast and ten pounds of prime chuck?" she asked, knowing that they could spare a little more meat given the amount that they had gotten.

The woman looked back at them, and the two Gallagher girls smiled in triumph.

"Oh, alright," she said, and Amie smiled even wider. "But it has to be back tomorrow."

Debbie nodded her head. "Of course," she agreed, walking to the door. "Thanks Mrs. Bergdoll!"

Amie followed Debbie back to their house to see a hearse in the front of the house. They both immediately assumed that Lip and Steve had been successful in finding the car and stealing it to give the allusion of Frank's untimely demise. The two girls looked at each other before running up to the house, quickly opening it to see everyone congregating in the living room, Frank in the middle of the group.

When the door closed behind the girls, Lip and Ian turned to them, the older of the two grabbing the suit from Debbie's outstretched hand. "Jesus, how'd you get one this nice?" Lip asked while Amie sat on the couch, taking her beanie off of her head.

"Bribing," Amie answered, and Ian chuckled at her blunt response while Lip through the suit at Frank, ordering him to change quickly. Ian picked Amie up off of the couch, a movement that she looked at him in confusion. He gestured to both her and Debbie before pointing up the stairs. "Let's find something black for you both to wear. Come on."

They followed their brother up the stairs and into their shared room. Debbie found a black shirt that went well with a red, plaid skirt, adding a lace cloth to cover her hair for added affect. Amethyst had to look longer but Ian luckily found an old dress of Fiona's in the attic that she could use. It was long sleeved and ended just below her knees, something perfect for a funeral in winter.

When the girls got downstairs again, everyone was bustling around the house, quickly moving things around to make it look like a funeral.

"Yo Carl, grab those," Lip said, pointing to the flowers as the front door opened. Nobody seemed to notice the sound as people continued to move around the living room. "Yeah, right there."

"Let's go, let's go," Veronica said, knowing that they were all short on time. Amethyst turned around when the front door closed, seeing Steve and Fiona there, holding onto Liam while they looked around in confusion and slight horror. The young girl couldn't blame them; they had literally walked in on a funeral.

"What the hell?" Fiona asked, but nobody seemed to react to her presence, knowing that they had to finish quickly before the two goons showed up. Ian grabbed Amie, moving her to the couch.

"We gotta do something with this," he said a little sarcastically, lifting up the girl's messy curls. Amethyst giggled as Ian pulled her dark hair up into a messy bun that somehow looked a little presentable. Behind her, Amethyst could hear Fiona.

"Debbie, what's going on?" she asked, confusion obvious in her voice.

The girl didn't hesitate in telling the truth. "Some killers are after Dad," she said simply. "So we have to fake his death. Lip borrowed a casket, Carl found some flowers, Dad's getting changed, I steamed your black dress, but you'll have to hurry, because they'll be here any minute."

Amethyst turned around, much to the annoyance of Ian who was still tying the hair tie around her thick locks. "Ian just got here too, but he only seems to be worried about me," she stated, wanting to be apart of the conversation. She could practically feel Ian roll his eyes in slight annoyance as he used her hair to turn her back around.

"Let me finish, alright?" he asked and she sighed, nodding her head just slightly.

"Debs," Veronica clapped her hands. "Come here."

Once Ian had finally finished doing her hair, Amethyst got up and went to help with the others as Fiona hurried back downstairs, now in the dress that Debbie had steamed. Frank was down here as well, with Carl brushing some makeup on his face and Debbie standing there holding a bunch of ice bags.

"Stuff this ice down his shirt," Fiona said, and Debbie immediately complied, much to Frank's distaste.

"Stop, enough," he whined, trying to wriggle away from Debbie as Amethyst giggled at his actions, standing next to Lip.

"Your body needs to be cold," Fiona explained to him.

"More morphine," Frank only replied in annoyance.

"It's horse tranquilizer," Veronica corrected him, and Amethyst furrowed her eyebrows.

"What's a tranquilizer?" she asked Lip, but it was Carl who answered her.

"Shit that knocks you out," he said as Ian smacked his head, frowning at the use of language in front of Fiona.

"Now get in the coffin before you pass out, Frank," Lip said, leaning against the wall and looking annoyed at all of this. He was the one that did not want to be a part of this fake funeral whatsoever.

The man looked to Veronica, pinching his index finger and thumb together. "Just a little taste?" he asked.

"I don't even know why we do this for you," Lip stated, shaking his head. Amethyst looked up at him, grabbing his hand as a form of comfort.

Of course, Frank immediately got defensive at Lip's comment. "You think it's easy being a parent?" he asked, standing up and pushing Carl and Debbie away in the process. "Letting Fiona be the good cop?" Fiona scoffed at that, knowing that he was simply spouting nonsense. "The important thing is you kids. Carl," he turned to the boy, bending down and cupping his cheeks. "I remember when the nurse in the hospital handed you to me."

"Carl was born in the back of a van," Lip interrupted, getting angry now as he released Amethyst's hand. "You weren't there."

Frank stood up, his temper getting the best of him as well. "I slapped his little ass myself," he said, but before he could say another word, Lip lunged at their father and punched him across the face. Fiona gasped loudly as both Debbie and Amie screamed in surprise and slight fear. Veronica grabbed onto Debbie gently while Ian swooped Amethyst into his arms, settling her on his hip.

Frank was knocked out and Steve helped Lip lift the drunk up. "Get him in the coffin," Lip said, and Steve nodded, the two of them dumping him in the box. Amethyst was still staring wide eyed at the scene as everyone helped them.

"Watch your head," Veronica told Lip as he stood straight again, everyone looking down at the father that didn't know anything about his kids. Ian rubbed Amie's back comfortingly as she breathed slowly, calming her racing heart.

"Okay," Fiona breathed.

"Looks dead," Veronica commented. "Shallow breathing, clammy. Hey Carl, more ice."

"Got it," Carl replied, placing an ice bag on Frank's forehead. Everyone was silent until they heard the engine of a car outside. The sound made everyone jump into action as Fiona put on some sad music and Debbie and Carl circled around Frank, pretending to cry. Amethyst leaned on Ian's shoulder, looking as if she were holding back tears.

The door opened and Lip, Veronica, and Steve turned to look at the visitor, seeing the two goons from yesterday entering the Gallagher household once again. The leader grabbed the parchment at the front of the door, looking skeptical about the whole thing while the one behind him at least tried to look sympathetic for their "loss."

They walked farther into the living room, sounding sarcastic when the leader spoke. "Sorry for your loss," he said.

"It was a shock," Fiona said, sniffling as she looked away from Frank in the casket. Amethyst nodded her head, agreeing with her sister.

"I'm sure," he replied, nodding his head. "Accident, was it?"

"Suicide," Lip answered him, causing Fiona, Debbie, Carl, and Amethyst to all let out fake sobs, continuing to cry. Amethyst turned her face into Ian's neck, as if trying to hide from the truth.

The guy nodded to himself before rushing to the casket, grabbing onto Frank's suit and lifting him up. Debbie screamed in shock, jumping away from the man and Frank's "body."

"I know you're faking it," he growled. "Come on, open your eyes, you lying, squirrelly sack of shit." On the last word, the man backhanded Frank, causing another scream to escape Debbie as well as Amie, staring at the man in shock.

The second man pulled the leader back. "Jesus, Rob," he tried to reason.

Rob didn't listen. "You're alive, I know it!" he screamed now. "Come on!"

"What't the matter with you?" the second one yelled, pulling Rob back again. "Look at him, he's dead." He pushed the leader away from the casket, everyone staring at him in horror, Ian holding on to Amethyst tightly. The man turned back to everyone apologetically. "Sorry, he's been under a lot of stress," he tried to explain.

Debbie began closing the casket, looking to the man with fear, as if he would jump toward him again. "Gonna check with the boss," Rob spoke, pointing at everyone. "Nobody move."

The man behind Rob, Amethyst still didn't know his name, pulled out a phone, dialing a number quickly. Unbeknownst to either of the mobsters, Fiona tilted her head into the kitchen while looking at Carl, and he moved quickly, exiting the house easily while Debbie coughed to cover the noise.

"Yeah, there's nothing here worth taking," the man spoke into the phone, his accent as prominent as ever. "Unless you want the little girls. One's 11, 12, while the other's maybe 5, 6?" he paused as Amie looked, wide eyed, toward Fiona, her heart beating quickly when she realized he was talking about her and Debbie. "No, the older one's cute, but not really a looker. The younger one might grow up nicely though," he said, and Ian tightened his grip on Amethyst even more while Lip took a small step to the right, blocking the man's view of the girl.

Another pause made Amethyst's heart beat harder before the man spoke again. "How about Frank?" he asked. "Any toes, fingers, you know, for proof?"

Everyone looked to the men as if they were crazy, while Amethyst's pulse slowed down slightly, not as scared now that she wasn't being talked about as if she were a thing and not a person.

"Okay," the man finally said, hanging up the phone while he turned to everyone else. "Keeps his extremities."

"And you'll be going?" Lip asked hopefully.

"Soon as he's in the ground," the man answered.

"W-What? No! Why?" Debbie argued, knowing that Frank was still inside while Amethyst turned to look at Ian with wide eyes.

"Boss's orders," he answered simply. "Stay with the scumbag till he's buried."

Before anybody could say anything against that, there was a loud crash outside of the house, followed by a car alarm. Everyone whirled their heads toward the noise, but the goons looked at each other. "Damn it, that's me," Rob spoke before running out the front door, his sidekick following after him.

The Gallaghers all shifted, wondering what to do now as Ian spoke up, setting Amie down on her own feet. "They're gonna bury him?" he asked.

"If we keep our mouths shut," Lip replied.

"Shit," Ian cursed.

"We need to put something in the coffin," Fiona told Lip as Steve opened the casket to look down at Frank.

Lip nodded his head. "All right," he said, turning to follow Fiona out of the backdoor. Amethyst followed, looking out of the kitchen to see her oldest sister open the trash can, showing pounds of rotting meat that they didn't need.

"We need more time," Fiona stated while everyone groaned at the stench. She looked up at Veronica, raising her eyebrows. "Can you stall them?"

Veronica simply smirked while pulling her zipper down, showing more of her cleavage than was necessary. Amethyst giggled before moving outside to try to help as best she can, scrunching up her nose at the smell of the meat.

She followed everyone inside, dumping all that she could carry in the now empty casket while everyone held their breaths. Amethyst gagged when Fiona finally nodded her head. "Okay," she said and they closed the coffin, finally able to breathe. "Ready?" she asked everyone. "Lift."

Amethyst lifted what she could, but given how short she was, it was almost impossible for her to help as everyone groaned at the weight. "Fuck," Lip cursed as Amethyst stood there, biting her lip as she tried to reach it, but was unable to. So, she simply walked behind them, trying not to laugh at the situation that her family somehow found themselves in.

"Carl's not lifting his share!" Debbie complained as they walked down the stairs.

"Yes, I am!" Carl yelled back. "You're not."

"Shut up, you two!" Fiona reprimanded them as Rob jumped toward them.

"Here, let me help," he said, grabbing the front of the coffin and settling it over his shoulder. "Jesus, stuff's starting to get ripe."

Amethyst watched as the empty coffin was loaded into the hearse, heading on it's way to a fake funeral.

She turned to Lip in the car, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why is our family so strange?" she asked, and he laughed, draping his arm over her shoulders and pulling her close.

"Because we're Gallaghers," he said, as if that was answer enough, and in a way, it was.

•

Now at the Alibi room, Amethyst looked around curiously. It wasn't the first time she's been in the bar, and certainly not the last given the amount of times Fiona's found their father there, but everyone was so much more quieter than usual, which she supposed help with the fake wake that was going on. Fiona held Carl and Amethyst close while Lip stood at the door, explaining to strangers that there was a private wake being held at the bar tonight. Kev poured a drink for Veronica as well as one for himself before moving from behind the bar. Amethyst watched curiously as he clinked his rings against the glass, calling the attention of everyone in the room.

"Could I have your attention, please?" he asked politely. Even the goons turned around to see what the man had to say. "Uh," he sighed. "Frank Gallagher. Loving husband, devoted father," at those words, Fiona looked over Carl and Amethyst's heads to share a secret smile with Steve and Lip, trying not to laugh. "Truly respected and cherished member of this community. He was a good friend, and a good neighbor, and he will be sorely missed. I just hope that in the afterlife..." He trailed off, pretending to cry as Amethyst held in a giggle, looking up at her sister to see her pushing her finger against her lips. "They treat him as kindly as he treated us. To Frank."

Everyone raised their glasses as well, repeating his words. "To Frank," they said, and almost immediately the two men that had been following the Gallaghers around today stood up from the bar.

"Long trip back to Milwaukee," Rob explained to Fiona while the other man came behind him, patting his shoulder.

"You okay to drive?" he asked.

In response, Rob threw his car keys to him, making a "call me," motion to Veronica as the woman smiled. Everybody watched in silence as the two left the bar, Lip closing the door behind them and locking the lock that was there, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth as he turned to everyone.

And, of course, Frank walked out from behind a wall, raising his arms out. "Gonna take more than that to put the lights out on Frank Gallagher," he shouted, and Amethyst screamed aloud in victory along with her siblings, banging her palms against the bar. "Next round's on me! Yeah!"

Amethyst laughed happily, watching as basically all of her siblings began to get drunk, but none more than her father, who started singing on stage.

"People ask me, they say Frank," he said, and Amethyst laughed, leaning into Ian, who was sporting another bruise on his face after vising the Kash 'N Grab. " _Why do you drink?_ "

" _To get drunk!_ " everyone shouted back, and Amethyst watched with a large grin on her face, not knowing the words but not having a problem with that.

" _And why do you roll smoke?_ "

" _To get high!_ " the crowd called again, and Amethyst smiled at her family, seeing Lip coming over to the table she was sitting at, beer in his hand.

"Hey, I'm sorry we couldn't work on some stuff today," he apologized, and she knew he was talking about not tutoring her.

The girl shrugged, shaking her head as Ian watched the exchange. "It's okay, this was funner," she replied. Lip smiled, opening his mouth but she beat him to it. "And yes, I know funner isn't a real word, but it should be."

Lip's smile grew as he looked to Ian, who rolled his eyes, draping an arm around the girl's shoulders and bringing her in to his body. "Stop being so smart," Ian told her, and Amethyst screamed out in surprise as he started noogying her.

"Stop!" she screamed, but she was laughing as she pulled away, her black curls now everywhere thanks to her older brother.

Ian laughed, and Lip shook his head, bringing his glass to his mouth once again.

Amie looked around happily, and at that moment, she wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

At a fake wake, singing songs, and laughing with her family.

•

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•

 **Alright guys, there's the second chapter! I really hope you enjoyed and tell me what you think, please? I'd love to hear some of your thoughts!**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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